March 1, 2011

The Mind of Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee, who has been praised for his curt dismissal of the birthers, had this to say in a radio interview:

“One thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American,” Huckabee said in response. "If you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.”

Huckabee prides himself on not being an elitist, so I have no doubt that he is just happily misinformed. (When he does seek out information--on what America's Middle East policy should be, for example--his primary source seems to be the Bible). What is especially interesting about this comment is its similarity to previous remarks by Newt Gingrich and Dinesh D'Souza. Both of these men have suggested that Obama has an "anticolonial" mindset. Here, Huckabee states that Obama's view of the Mau Mau Rebellion is "different than ours," which of course begs the obvious question of what Mike Huckabee and his ilk think about Kenya's fight against imperial rule. Huckabee should take this opportunity to enlighten us.